AnthonyW

A neat Artical in the Wall Street Jounal:http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...Tabs%3Darticle

MIDLAND, Texas—By the end of World War II, nearly 4,000 Boeing B-29 Superfortresses had been built, most of them to rain bombs on targets across the Pacific Theater. Today, there's only one B-29 still flying, and she's nicknamed "Fifi."

At a time when most vintage warplanes have retired to a quiet life on display in drafty museums, 65-year-old Fifi is embarking on a new mission: giving rides to paying enthusiasts and once again making the air-show rounds, which occasionally feature a simulated atomic-bomb attack.

Fifi's current assignment follows a long journey back from near obsolescence. To make her return to the skies, she required a four-year, multimillion dollar engine overhaul, and her owners had to navigate through a protracted spat with the Federal Aviation Administration for renewed clearance to fly.

In its prime, the B-29 was the most sophisticated heavy bomber ever developed. Boasting a pressurized cabin and automated gun systems, the four-engine propeller plane could traverse long distances at high altitudes—evading enemy fighters and anti-aircraft fire—to drop thousands of pounds of high explosives on Japan. The war's most famous B-29, the "Enola Gay," dropped the atomic bomb above Hiroshima.

From the start, the bombers were unreliable and difficult to maintain. They had powerful-but-finicky engines that were prone to spontaneous combustion. When the war was over, variants of the B-29 remained in service until the 1960s, but the Air Force largely discarded the noisy gas guzzlers.

Fifi didn't see combat. Built just weeks before Tokyo's surrender in August 1945, she served stateside with the Air Force until 1954, when she was lent to the Navy, transferred to a facility in California's Mojave Desert, and promptly forgotten.

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Kevin Leas for The Wall Street Journal

Between flights, Fifi's crew poses for photos for passengers and journalists.
In 1971, a Dallas businessman and World War II Army Air Forces veteran named Vic Agather rescued the plane from the California desert and a date with the scrap yard. The Navy donated the plane on Mr. Agather's behalf to a group of Texas war-bird enthusiasts called the Confederate Air Force. Mr. Agather named the plane Fifi, after his wife, and financed a rudimentary desert restoration by the CAF.

After a battle with the military and the FAA to get a one-time flight permit (the government wanted to limit the number of people on the plane), Fifi was flown to Harlingen, Texas, where it underwent a more thorough revamp.

Once Fifi was fully restored and approved for flights in the mid-1970s, she became a regular on the air-show circuit, keeping alive the public's fascination with the big, old bombers. Fifi was patched up over the years—Boeing Co. repainted her in 1991—but was grounded in 2006 after metal pieces inside the plane's four radial engines began disintegrating.

"It basically got to the point that every time we flew her, we'd have to do significant work on the engines and it was just costing too much to keep her airborne," said Neils Agather, son of the late Vic. He sported a "Fifi's Son" name tag at the annual confab here in Midland of the re-named Commemorative Air Force (members dropped "Confederate" in 2002 because some thought it hurt the group's image).

In addition to coming up with designs for new engines that would still fit on the wing of the old bomber, the group wanted to retain the four-bladed propellers sported by the B-29's original Wright engines. Four years and more than $3 million later, Fifi was outfitted with four new engines and ready for a comeback.

The Warplane Who Wouldn't Retire
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Kevin Leas for The Wall Street Journal

More interactive graphics and photos By Memorial Day, the engine replacement was complete. In early July, Fifi made its first flight in four years. A few weeks later, though, one of Fifi's replacement engines needed replacing.

Then there was the FAA: the CAF had to meet for weeks with the agency to discuss the reliability of the new engines, and questions surrounding passenger flights, before getting the final go ahead last month.

In the past, Fifi spent at least six months a year on the road, performing fly-bys at air shows and barely earning her keep through private donations and revenue from B-29 memorabilia sold by the CAF.

Now, although she'll be flying at fewer events, Fifi can bring along nine paying passengers for a 30 minute ride ($995 to ride up front, $595 for a back seat) in addition to the six CAF crew members—including two whose sole job is to scan the wings and engines for smoke or fire.

Mr. Agather said the CAF took in $45,000 to $50,000 for rides aboard Fifi at last weekend's annual Airsho here in Midland. Dave Miller, Fifi's crew chief, says it costs roughly $9,000 an hour to operate the plane. In November, Fifi will relocate to her new home at an airport in suburban Dallas.

From there, the plane will go to selected air shows during the summer and fall, and be stored inside a hangar to prevent weather damage at other times. The bomber will also continue to give rides to paying customers.

Surrounded by other finely restored warplanes and sleek modern military jets, Fifi appeared to be the most popular attraction at the Midland air show. Thousands of spectators crowded around the enormous silver plane with "FIFI" emblazoned on the nose of the craft in giant blue letters. A huge letter "A" was painted on the B-29's tail, for her namesake's family.

Fifi was also the star of the afternoon war-bird flying display that recreated the air combat of the Pacific—with simulated bombing and strafing runs that were accompanied by sound effects and pyrotechnics detonated on the ground.

The finale of Fifi's aerial performance was a re-enactment of the Enola Gay's atomic bomb drop on Hiroshima, complete with a massive explosion and roiling black mushroom cloud.

Hours before Fifi took to the sky on Saturday afternoon, Charles Chauncey was resting comfortably in the B-29's co-pilot seat, surveying the old bomber's instrument panel and regaling visitors with tales of flying B-29s in the war.

Mr. Chauncey, 87, flew 35 missions against Japan as a Superfortress pilot from the U.S. base at Tinian, in the Pacific.

Dressed in an old military flight suit with a chest full of medals and ribbons, Mr. Chauncey said he'd flown aboard Fifi as a CAF volunteer a few times in the past but had yet to take a ride since she returned to the flight line this month.

Asked if he was planning to take another flight, Mr. Chauncey didn't hesitate: "Oh, yes," he said breaking into a grin, "I'd love to take one more ride aboard her before I hang up my hat."

Flak

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I am a proud CAF member of the "Heart of America Wing" at New Century, KS. We hope to have FiFi at our Open House next year. She is a beautiful Warbird.